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New York Tunnel Plot Is Uncovered in Early Stage

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg at a press conference Friday with New York Assistant F.B.I. Director Mark J. Mershon, Superintendent Samuel Plumeri Jr. of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and New York City's police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly.Credit
Mike Segar/Reuters

A terrorist plot to set off explosives in the PATH railway tunnels under the Hudson River in October or November was disrupted in its planning stages, and several suspects in the plot have been apprehended, law enforcement officials said today.

Mark J. Mershon, the agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New York office, said at a news conference this afternoon that Lebanese officials had taken the plot's "mastermind" into custody in Beirut and that he had confessed. Mr. Mershon said that the Lebanese officials had identified the suspect as Assem Hammoud, a 31-year-old Lebanese native, and reported that Mr. Hammoud had sworn allegiance to Al Qaeda.Mr. Mershon said two of the other eight people he described as "principal players" in the plot had been taken into custody in other countries, although none had yet been charged with any crimes. He said that an investigation was continuing, involving six countries on three continents.

Also at the news conference were Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly of New York. Mr. Bloomberg said the thwarted plot illustrated once again why the city deserves more federal funds to counter terrorism.

"This is just another example, in a long line of them, as to why we have to continue to keep our vigilance up, and why, with homeland security funding, we can do that," he said. "The American government should give out homeland security monies based on risk."

No one involved in the plot had set foot in the United States, Mr. Mershon said. Mr. Kelly said no bomb materials had been acquired and no reconnaissance had been conducted by the plotters.

But Mr. Mershon said the arrests overseas were made at a crucial time. "The plot had matured to the point where the individuals were about to go to a phase where they would attempt to surveil targets, establish a regimen of attacks and acquisition of the resources needed to effectuate the attacks," he said.

A statement issued jointly by the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security earlier today said that while "Al Qaeda continues to have an interest in attacking the United States," there is "no specific or credible information that Al Qaeda is planning an attack on U.S. soil."

The plot was first reported by The Daily News, which said that Mr. Hammoud and an unknown number of other people were planning to detonate a bomb in the Holland Tunnel in the hope of flooding Lower Manhattan.

Mr. Mershon said today that the Holland Tunnel was not, in fact, the plot's target. He described it as plot involving "martyrdom, explosives and certain of the tubes connecting New Jersey and Lower Manhattan."

Michael Chertoff, the secretary of Homeland Security, said in Boston this afternoon that a "threat stream" had come to light several months ago, but he declined to give any details on what the plot's target was.

Mr. Chertoff said that federal, state and local authorities had taken "immediate steps to disrupt the completion of any plot."

Mr. Chertoff acknowledged that the plot did not pose an imminent threat. But he said the London railway bombings, which took place a year ago today, showed the importance of quick action in the face of threats, even those in their early stages. "The distance between planning and actual operations is a very short distance," he said.

"Sometimes, that causes skeptics to say the threats are not really serious," he said. "But mixing a bomb in a bathtub does not require rocket science."

Mr. Chertoff said railways remain "a safe mode of operation," while acknowledging that the risk of attack could not be eliminated entirely.

"We shouldn't let terrorists bully us into getting off the train," he said, adding that he believed that Americans were willing to live with "a certain amount of risk." The statement issued by the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security said the investigation was "ongoing" and was being conducted with the help of security forces in Lebanon and "other foreign law enforcement and intelligence partners."

Representative Peter T. King, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said today that even though the Holland Tunnel was not the target this time, the tunnel has been a target of terrorists before, including a plot against the Hudson River tunnels and other New York landmarks uncovered after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

Senator Charles E. Schumer praised the work done by law-enforcement officials and said the arrest in Lebanon was the result of intercepted Internet conversations. "They were caught by people talking," he said. "In this case, intelligence did its job."

Both Mr. Schumer and Mr. King said that the investigation showed that Mr. Chertoff was wrong to direct more federal financing toward infrastructure improvements rather than helping to pay for personnel involved in anti-terrorism efforts.

"This is very draining on New York City's treasury," Mr. King said in a televised interview, referring to the investigation. "Without going into detail, an extraordinary amount of money has been spent by the New York City Police Department on this particular plot."